Background: The Nazi propaganda apparatus kept functioning almost to the end. This is a newsletter for party leaders and propagandists in Gau Sachsen. This newsletter from early April 1945 does what it can to provide news favorable to the German side.

Political Information Service of the NSDAP

Gaupropagandaleitung Sachsen

Folge 11: 9 April 1945

Possessions can be restored, but lost freedom never returns!

The Military Situation in the West

This a general overview of the current situation on the Western Front. Remember that by the time this is received there may have been major changes. Since the enemy has succeeded in crossing the Rhine in numerous places and plunging deep into the Reich, the battle for Germany is raging with full force. As painful as the loss of German territory is, we have to keep a clear head. We remind ourselves that we overcame a similar situation in the East. We still remember the surprising Bolshevist breakthrough at Baranow, but after heavy fighting the Bolshevist offensive army was stopped and the front stabilized. It must be said repeatedly that an offensive may gain territory, but the heavy cost paid by the attackers in men and matériel provides the opportunity to rebuild defenses. Our defensive system on the Eastern Front proved this, as it stopped strong Bolshevist attacks. We may also not forget that Soviet supply lines are over land, far more advantageous than for the Anglo-Americans who must bring each shell, each spare part for a tank or some other vehicle, by ship, which they themselves admit are in short supply.

Although the current enemy advance in the West, which demands very painful sacrifices of us, our will is that it not lead to the extinguishing of the Reich. What the population in the East achieved against Soviet tank terror, so must and will the population in the West and in the interior of the Reich also accomplish. A breakthrough lasts for a certain time and brings the enemy territorial gain, but it runs into the danger of stopping when faced with the resistance of brave men. If Breslau, Königsberg, and the many other fortresses in the East can do it, so will places in the West and interior of the Reich. If the enemy must fight for each village and city, shedding rivers of blood, the time must come when he can no longer lose vast numbers of men.

We must recognize the danger and defend our freedom to the last, or else we will become weary, fail, and thus lose everything in the hour of danger. The Reich still has great fighting strength., not to mention the spiritual strength of our people. Let us use these forces completely! Why does the enemy assume a quick end to the war? Its leadership knows well enough that either it must defeat Germany in the coming weeks or else begin a political conflict with its allies in the Kremlin. They know, and each Englishman and American knows even better, that the population and dependents in the homeland are weary of war, and have been consoled that the war will end in victory in the next few weeks. If we frustrate the enemy’s plan and in this decisive hour bring his offensive to a halt, we will prove that defeating a people of 90 million requires more than occupying Cologne, Darmstadt, or Koblenz. We will thereby win time to establish new fronts.

Therefore, the slogan of the moment can only be: Resist wherever the enemy appears, fight fanatically, keep a clear head, and do not be driven down by the day’s events.

Behind the Facade of English Military Policy

Broad circles of the British population increasingly recognize the senselessness of the war policy their government is following. Such deep realization is evident throughout the country. The serious British newspaper Truth writes that even a peace that follows an Allied victory would not save England from its suffering. To the contrary, a new period of worry and poverty will begin, since nothing remains but ruins of everything England once had. The British people have little reason to rejoice in this peace, but must attempt to save as much as possible from the ruins, and is already beginning to take inventory of its losses.

What would the results of such an inventory show? British foreign holdings were used up entirely to finance the war. England lost its export market in America, and threw away its role as a center of international finance. Even many years will not suffice according to English sources to eliminate the terrible housing shortage caused by our air attacks. On the international level, England’s position is without doubt worse than before the war. Who will still see England as a great power? Everywhere that England’s influence once prevailed will follow the plan of Soviet Russia after “liberation.” England declared war because it feared that Germany was striving for total domination of Europe. It must now recognize the bitter truth that it has been driven out of all its positions by its own Allies. The resigned attitude of the English people is expressed not only in the serious British newspaper Truth, but is spreading more and more. This domestic thinking also reveals a fear of a Bolshevist peace. Here, too, there are many voices. The News Chronicle, one of the leading English newspapers, wrote that one has to be distressed by the many signs of skepticism, evident in England not only with respect to the San Francisco conference, but also in view of the prospects of peace. This is especially evident among the families of the fighting troops.

In another article, the same newspaper discussed a possible German collapse. It writes that the replacement of the National Socialist regime would lead to chaos not only in Germany, but in all of Europe, and lead to enormous problems for the whole world. After reading this English newspaper, we know what the Anglo-Americans are risking everything to defeat Germany as quickly as possible. They want to force a military decision at all costs in order to face Stalin at the San Francisco conference. Our morale will not weaken at this fateful hour, but rather we will remain firm and hold our heads high in the last round of this battle. Our leadership will make the greatest efforts to halt the threatening enemy attacks into the core of the Reich.

Anti-Semitic Movement in the USA

A report by Hannen Swaffer in the English newspaper Daily Herald reports that in the Midwest of the USA any criticism of the Axis powers is rejected by broad circles of the population. Associations have developed with ideas hostile to England and are preparing attacks against Jews and Negroes. The New York magazine Protestant reports that racial hatred has grown to a tremendous degree in the USA. The anti-Semitic movement in the USA sends letters to Aryan families whose sons have fallen in Europe with the following content:

“We, the Jewish nation, wish you happy holidays. Console yourselves that although you have lost a loved one, they did their duty to rescue God’s chosen people. Their sacrifice has made it possible for Jewish boys and girls to stay in their homeland.”

American Solder Kenneth Says...

American soldiers are strictly prohibited from discussing the Soviet Union and conditions in Stalin’s Reich. This ban stems from the fact that American front soldiers have a growing fear that after Germany’s hoped for defeat, they will have to fight against the increasingly powerful Soviet Union. The statement by this American soldier, who was captured in a surprise attack by our forces, shows clearly the tensions in the political relationship between our Western enemy and the Soviet Union.

Japan Establishes a Volkssturm

A few days ago, Tokyo announced the establishment of a Japanese Volkssturm.The German model was the godparent here. A release from the Japanese War Ministry said, among other things, that the main task of the Japanese Volkssturm would be to defend the country in the event of an enemy invasion. It would include not only the reserves of all the services, but also the nationalistic organizations that would be united under the leadership of experienced reserve officers. It is also planned to make individual provincial defense measures independent of each other.

Germany, Awake!

In the decisive hours of this war, we want to remember more than ever the old fighting songs of the movement. Dietrich Eckart called is to be a people fighting for its very existence in his verses “Storm, Storm, Storm””

Germany, Awaken!

Storm! Storm! Storm! Storm!
Ring the bells from tower to tower!
Ring until sparks begin to fly,
Judas appears to win the Reich!
Ring until the ropes turn red from blood,
With only burning, torture and murder around,
Ring the storm until the earth rises,
Under the thunder of liberating vengeance!
Woe to the people that is still dreaming today!
Germany, awaken!

Storm! Storm! Storm!
Ring the bells from tower to tower!
Ring the men, the old and the young,
Ring the sleepers out of their parlours,
Ring the girls down the stairs,
Ring the mothers away from the cradles!
The air shall clang and cannonade,
Rushing forth in the thunder of vengeance!
Ring the dead out of their grave!
Germany, awaken!